On this site will be posted analyses of popular media productions. These analyses will have to do with determining the underlying meanings of various movies, songs, and certain novels. Methods used to analyze a given production will include exploration of the creators' use of symbolism, allegory, metaphor, etc., and deciphering any arcane or obscure references that it may contain.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Reproduction of the Prague Golem. [Image from the Wikipedia 'Golem' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.]

In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing. The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late-16th-century rabbi of Prague. There are many tales differing on how the golem was brought to life and afterwards controlled.

The earliest stories of golems date to early Judaism. Early on, the main disability of the golem was its inability to speak.[a] Recall that Hannibal is essentially mute for a period of time, i.e., in the orphanage (above left), up until he has been with Lady Murasaki for a while (above right).

Part of the golem legend sometimes depicts the golem as eventually becoming evil, turning on society. By the end of Hannibal Rising, Hannibal has obviously become evil. In the Lecter movies that are set later than Hannibal Rising (The Silence of the Lambs, etc.) it becomes evident that Lecter, as a full adult, has turned on society, symbolizing the fact that this is what the evil hermaphroditic Jews have done.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

The above screencap from Pulp Fiction depicts boxer Butch Coolidge making a call to find out when he can collect on some gambling winnings. The background to this is that Butch had promised gang boss Marsellus Wallace that he would throw a fight (i.e., lose on purpose), but he then proceeded to win the fight instead, killing his opponent, Floyd Wilson, who was favored to win. Prior to the fight, he gambled all his money on himself to win, and now is in a position to collect a large payoff. After the fight, he flees the arena, then calls a man named Scotty from a payphone, to find out how much he has won and when he can collect. During the phone conversation, movie-goers hear only Butch's part of the dialogue. First we'll look at the conversation itself, then we'll see how it refers to things having to do with A Space Odyssey.

Butch (into phone): "What the fuck I tell ya, hah? As soon as the word got out the fix was in man, the odds went through the roof. I know, I know. Unbelievable. Hey, fuck 'im Scotty, if he was a better boxer, he'd still be alive. If he never laced up his gloves, which he never shoulda done in the first fuckin' place, he'd still be alive. Yeah, well, who gives a fuck, it's over now. Yeah, well, enough about the poor, unfortunate Mr. Floyd - let's talk about the rich and prosperous Mr. Butch. How many bookies you lay it around on?"

(pause)

"All eight? How long to collect?"

(pause)

"So you'll have it all by tomorrow night?"

(pause)

"No, I understand, a few stragglers aside. Ah, fuck, Scotty, that is good news, that is great news, man. Yeah. Mm-mm. No, me an' Fabienne are gonna leave in the morning. It'll probably take us a couple o' days to get down to Knoxville. Okay, my brother. (Laughs.) You're right, you're goddamn right. Alright, Scotty, next time I see you, it'll be on Tennessee time. Cool, brother."

Butch hangs up.

---------------------

Though "Mr. Floyd" ostensibly refers to the now deceased boxing opponent whom Butch defeated, Floyd Wilson, it is also to be taken as a reference to Heywood Floyd from 2001. "Scotty" is a reference to the Montgomery "Scotty" Scott character from the original Star Trek TV series. What's being suggested is that Butch is talking with someone who is, in some sense, 'in outer space'. "Tennessee time" is a reference to 'Jupiter time' from A Space Odyssey, i.e., it is a reference to 2001's Jupiter mission.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Recall from the introduction to this analysis, that at one point while Heywood Floyd and five other astronauts are near the monolith at TMA-1 (on the moon), it starts making a high-pitched noise. In an interview that took place not long after A Space Odyssey was released, Kubrick referred to this noise as a "kind of cosmic burglar alarm."[a]

In this screencap, some of the six men at TMA-1 are shown raising their hands as if to cover their ears, in response to the monolith's loud, high-pitched noise.

Also stated earlier in the analysis (in part 4) was that the six men with colors for their names in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, correspond, within some context, to the six astronauts at TMA-1 in A Space Odyssey. As it turns out, the basic underlying correspondence between the two films is that they both involve a diamond heist.

In Reservoir Dogs, the six gangsters (Mr. Blonde, Mr. Brown, Mr. White, Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink, and Mr. Blue) rob a bank of some diamonds, but the film's audience is never shown the actual robbery, only certain events that occur before and after it. This corresponds to the heist in A Space Odyssey: We are never shown the heist itself, but the fact is that the monolith on the moon (at TMA-1) contains stolen diamonds, and the events that occur among the six men there take place after the heist: Immediately subsequent to the monolith sounding its 'burglar alarm' (which corresponds to the bank alarm that goes off during the robbery in Reservoir Dogs),[b] there is some kind of 'face-off' among the six men at TMA-1, i.e., there is chaos and fighting among them, with some of them being killed (by having their air hoses disconnected). The correspondence for this in Reservoir Dogs, is the chaos and fighting involving its six robbers (along with other people), with some of them being killed. However, in 2001, we are not only not shown the heist, but we are not shown the face-off either.

The importance of diamonds and their being stolen in A Space Odyssey, and of certain events being 'hidden' from the 2001 audience, will be gone into in more detail later in this analysis. What's important to realize here is that in showing us what takes place after the heist in Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino is giving us hints about what actually occurs in A Space Odyssey, i.e., some of the events in Reservoir Dogs are, in part, representations of some of the events in 2001 which we don't see.

In Reservoir Dogs, an injured Mr. Orange is held by Mr. White, in a warehouse the two men have escaped to after the bank robbery.

a. Gelmis, Joseph. The Film Director as Superstar. Doubleday, 1970. p. 304.
b. Since the heist in Reservoir Dogs is not shown, the film's audience doesn't actually hear an alarm go off. However, it becomes evident that such an alarm did sound, as revealed when this alarm is mentioned after the robbery, during a conversation between Mr. Pink and Mr. White.

Friday, September 16, 2011

The dance floor at restaurant and club Jack Rabbit Slim's in Pulp Fiction (above left), has a design painted on it that is reminiscent of HAL's eye (above right).

The 'imaginary' rectangle Mia has drawn during her conversation with Vincent in Pulp Fiction (above left), reminds us of the lighted border surrounding the lunar lander landing pad in 2001 (above right).

In Pulp Fiction, Mia's home security system control center, with its lights, panels, and monitors (above left), is reminiscent of the various cockpit panels shown in A Space Odyssey (e.g., those of the Pan Am space plane shown at above right).

The emergency adrenaline injection revival kit in Pulp Fiction (above left), is a reference to the emergency revival control modules attached to each of the hibernating astronauts' pods in 2001 (above right).

part 34 - Tarantino, Mann, and Lynch: Allusions to Kubrick's philosophy of periodically making light of serious situations in his films

part 35 - The meeting at Clavius; the monolith's shape: the reason it is rectangular instead of square

part 36 - More on alchemy in the movie; Kubrick is depicting an unsuccessful citrinitas, and thus, an incomplete alchemical process

part 37 - 'Faked' aspects of the Jupiter mission film: There are hints in the movie that part of the Jupiter mission film (the 'movie within a movie'), is being recorded on the space station instead of on Discovery One

part 38 - By designing A Space Odyssey as an allegory for both Homer's The Odyssey, and Jonah and the whale, Kubrick was trying to draw attention to the fact that both of these tales have a common underlying source: The Epic of Gilgamesh.

part 56 - The partially-faked mission film's intended audience is Generation Y; Kubrick was predicting that this generation, and all subsequent generations, would be 'brainwashed' by radical feminists working in concert with powerful men in the entertainment industry and news media

part 57 - Kubrick gives us a warning: Defy misdirection, such as that given by persons in power, certain parties in the entertainment industry and news media, and certain special interest groups

part 59 - The conception allegory; the unconscious as a 'womb'. At least part of the movie is taking place 'inside' Bowman's unconscious

part 60 - Reference to the game of billiards is being made in the movie

part 61 - Kubrick is employing the billiards reference to make a point about the effect of one's attitude in life on the course of one's life, and about the relationship of this to randomness in the universe

part 62 - The fact that the monolith contains diamonds, is linked to the Pulp Fiction briefcase contents

part 63 - The movie contains a numerical reference to the biblical book of Proverbs

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Top left: In A Space Odyssey, the pilot and co-pilot of the lunar lander are served food (by a stewardess) in the lander cockpit. Top right: A view of the interior of Marsellus Wallace's restaurant/bar from Pulp Fiction. Note that the red coloring used in this scene, is similar to the red of the 2001 lunar lander cockpit interior. Above left: The 2001 lunar lander on its landing pad. The shape and surface features of the lander make it appear somewhat similar to a sphinx's head and face, with the two windows representing eyes (click image to enlarge). Above right: The head of the Great Sphinx of Giza, ca. 1870's. [Image from the Wikipedia 'Great Sphinx of Giza' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.]

In Pulp Fiction, boxer Butch Coolidge maintains a 'sphinx-like' silence and facial appearance, while being ordered by Marsellus Wallace to throw his next boxing match.

Disclaimers1) In certain instances it has been determined that the creators of some of the productions analyzed on this blog, and/or the creators of source material(s) used in the making of these productions, may be making negative statements about certain segments of society in their productions. These statements should be taken as expressing the opinions of no one other than the creators.

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